Nurse branded 'killer' by media - Counsel

A nurse convicted of poisoning and assaulting patients in a hospital had been branded "a killer" by sections of the media, her counsel said when her sentence was adjourned by Judge Frank O’Donnell.

Ms Noreen Mulholland (aged35) now living in Park Road, Portadown, Co Armagh and previously of Runabeg Close, Kildare was convicted by a jury last October of poisoning and assaulting Mr John Gethings (aged 77), Baltinglass, Co Wicklow on March 1, 2003.

She was also found guilty of assaulting Mr Seamus Doherty (aged 80), (now deceased) of Rathcoffey, Naas, Co Kildare causing him harm between June 18-19, 2003, but was found not guilty of poisoning him on the same occasion.

The jury spent a total of some 19 hours and 14 minutes deliberating before finalising its verdicts on day-20 of her trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Mulholland, had pleaded not guilty to intentionally or recklessly administering a substance, Serenase, to Mr Gethings and to Mr Doherty, without their consent and knowing it was capable of interfering substantially with their bodily functions, and also denied assaulting both men, causing them harm on the same occasions.

Ms Orla Crowe BL, prosecuting, told the jury that Mr Gethings died on March 2, 2003 but emphasised that it was not the State’s case that Ms Mulholland was responsible for his death.

Judge O’Donnell adjourned the sentence, saying he needed time to consider a detailed psychological report. He added that he would not entertain communications from any source concerning his consideration of the case but strongly emphasised that his comment had nothing to do with Mulholland.

Mr Giollaiosa O Lideadha SC, defending, told Judge O’Donnell that on two occasions Mulholland "flipped out and used excessive force" which resulted in her being branded a killer in the media and suggestions made that she killed a number of people.

He said that although it was repeatedly stated in the reporting of the trial that the State didn’t hold Mulholland responsible for Mr Gethings’s death it didn’t take the branding away and she suffered considerably as a result.

He asked Judge O’Donnell to consider a psychological report which outlined the affects of a sexual assault on Mulholland when she was nine years old, for which a neighbor was later convicted.

He said she also had a very troubled childhood after "suffering greatly at the hands of her father" and was hospitalised as a teenager in 1986 following a suicide attempt.

Detective Sergeant Ashley O’Sullivan told Ms Crowe that Ms Sharon Baxter, a colleague of Mulholland’s, saw her give Mr Gethings an injection of Serenase "very brutally and very roughly" using a 16 gauge white needle.

Ms Baxter later checked Mr Gethings’s chart and found that the patient was only prescribed the drug once a night in tablet form and Mulholland had given him the tablet earlier that night. Mr Gethings died the next morning after he went into cardiac arrest.

Det. Sgt O’Sullivan said that Ms Sinead Noone-Norton testified that she saw Mulholland "very roughly" inject Mr Doherty with Serenase using a 16 gauge white needle. She heard the patient then call out "help" and Mulholland tell him to "shut up" before she threw a glass of water over the elderly man.

Ms Noone-Norton said she stepped outside the curtain surrounding the bed but walked back in and saw Mulholland holding the needle in her fist in a threatening manner while pointing it at Mr Doherty.

Mr Doherty was never prescribed any injection and was not charted for Serenase before this night.

Det. Sgt O’Sullivan agreed with Ms Crowe that, Ms Alison Mc Garvey, a nursing expert gave evidence during the trial, that a 16 gauge white needle should never be used to administer an injection.

Mulholland had trained in the US before she came to Ireland in 2001 and registered with An Bord Altranais here. She began working with a nursing agency in August 2002 when she was contracted to work in Naas Hospital. She had no previous convictions.

Det Sgt O’Sullivan agreed with Mr O Lideadha (with Ms Anne B Rowland BL), that Mr Gethings’s postmortem revealed he had a bruise on his left buttock while Mulholland injected him in his right buttock.

He also accepted that although Mr Doherty had a red mark on his buttock, there was no bruising there.

He agreed that a number of colleagues testified during the trial that, apart from these two incidents, Mulholland was considered a caring nurse and a reference from Blackrock Clinic described her as spending too much time with patients and their families and not concentrating on the practical side of nursing.

Det Sgt O’Sullivan accepted that a number of testimonials handed into court described Mulholland as "an asset to the community", "sweet and considerate", and "a very special, caring intelligent kind of person who had great prospects in the nursing field".

Mr O’Lideadha said that although Mulholland accepted the verdict of the jury she found the conviction "deeply offensive". He said she wished to express her regret for the distress caused to the victims’ families.

Det Sgt O’Sullivan agreed that Mulholland had sent a letter of resignation to both An Bord Altranais and the New York State nursing board, which meant that she would never practice as a nurse again.

Mr O’Lideadha told Judge O’Donnell that a nurse was in a position of honour, privilege and special trust and that the use of excessive force in this field cannot be tolerated but he said his client cannot accept that she deliberately used force on Mr Gethings and Mr Doherty.

He said there was no dispute that she had a very, very difficult childhood yet despite this she worked her way into nursing and was considered "a loving, committed, hardworking, flexible and devoted person".